Behavioral interview questions

denis92

Are behavioral interview questions common in IT? You would think the technical questions are much more important. Anyone know of the best way to prepare for such questions? I have limited work experience since I am 24, much of my time was spent as a freelance chemistry tutor. Not exactly sure how I can answer these questions.

scaredoftests

In some places. Such inane questions. Despise them.

PocketLumberjack

When I interviewed at Mayo Clinic they sent me this link, it’s really useful. https://www.mayoclinic.org/jobs/how-to-apply/preparing-for-interview I don’t mind behavioral based interviews, but I do like technical. The problem is that not everyone in the room interviewing you understands technology, but they can get a good idea of how you’ll fit with the way you answer behavioral questions. But this is all just my opinion, I’m not smart so take it with a grain of salt.

UncleB

denis92 wrote: »

Are behavioral interview questions common in IT? You would think the technical questions are much more important. Anyone know of the best way to prepare for such questions? .

Can you clarify what you mean by behavioral questions? If you mean "how would you handle an irate customer" sort of thing then they are bread and butter question for helpdesk and support type roles where your behavior is very much under the spotlight because you are interacting with the whole business and represent IT to them.

If this is the case then I would recommend getting someone to run through lots of scenarios with you as roleplay where you give your honest answers and they tell you what you need to do to improve - pay attention then repeat the role play until you get it right and can answer questions about how to do it right.

Behind the scenes technical roles are much less interested in this sort of thing typically but they probably don't want someone who is going to fly into a rage because someone asks them if they can cover the phone while they go to the bathroom.

Tell us a bit more about the roles you are going for and we can help more.

cbdudek

The last company I worked for required you to take a behavioral test as part of the interview process. Its more or less a measure of how you feel about certain situation and how you would react to them. Lying on the test is hard to do because even if you fake it on one question, there are others you will answer honestly on the others which will skew the results. The company was looking for people who are external facing, can talk to people, and are willing to help others. Really introverted people wouldn't like to work there.

When it comes to behavioral tests, answer truthfully. If you fake it and get the job, but the culture doesn't mesh with you, is that a good thing? The answer is probably not.

TechGromit

UncleB wrote: »

Can you clarify what you mean by behavioral questions?

Tell us about a time you promised a customer something and your couldn't deliver.

Tell us about a time you came up with a unique idea or solution to a problem.

Tell us about a time you led a project to a successful conclusion.

These kinds of questions. They put you on the spot and see if you can think on your feet under pressure. Pretty much the same thing as when they ask you what your favorite movie is or what do you like to do in your feel time. They really don't care what your answer is, they just want to see if your going to freeze or not give a clear answer.

The last two jobs I interviewed for were behavioral interviews, one was at Verizon, the other Exelon. They didn't ask me any technical questions for either interview, but for Verizon I had to pass two exams before they would interview me. One was a basic skills test (reading, math) the other was more technical in nature, but nothing too tough. They provided one practice test of each of the exams on their website so you knew what material to brush up on.

If you know your interview is going to be a behavior interview, you can look up some of the most often questions asked and have answers ready for them. For the one interview, I had answers ready for three of the questions they asked, the other three I was able to draw on my experience and come up with an answer. The most important thing is don't leave any question unanswered, and provide a complete answer, even if you have to make something up, just making it believable.

sillymcnasty

I was asked, what would you do if you couldn't figure it out. After the first obvious answers, they said what next? I said call for help. It was the right answer lol.

gespenstern

I also despise them and prefer technical. If you are interviewed by a big enterprise there will be a technical interview, but there will also be more managerial type where these questions are asked.

They can be of two types, personality questions, search online IPIP and see how you score.

Another type are open-ended questions on how you react in certain situations, like describe what you do when you fail, etc.

diffie

I tended to like asking these questions when I was in a position of a hiring manager. Your certs told me you could learn our processes and procedures but a question like; "...Tell me about a time when you received constructive criticism about something you had done." gave me a sense of how you were going to interact with the team and me more importantly me, your supervisor.

BTW a wrong answer is, you never received criticism or feedback on something you've done.

gespenstern

diffie wrote: »

BTW a wrong answer is

Yeah, these assumptions are the most maddening part of it. Another question I hate is about failures. "What you do when you fail". The right answer is I report to my manager, we develop a plan how to fix it and if the manager approves I engage. And that's a lie as I just haven't failed for 15+ years, because I'm extremely paranoid and think through and plan everything and if plan A fails with this probability then plan B is at the ready already thought through and talked through with the management.

As for criticism, I'm an "always right" type of person, because, again, of being paranoid and just never engaging in fights or actions I cannot justify looking back at them. So on every new gig there are a few fights here and there where I win and then everybody just avoids fighting me and backs on everything with "well, this guy probably knows what he's doing". If I tell that on an interview -- I don't get a pass, so I have to lie, like, "yeah, we discuss it and if we established that there were failures in planning and after receiving feedback we fix them and proceed as a team" type of BS.

All of that is an absolute BS and is hard to apply to technical ppl, especially good engineers. Like, if you read up on Bill Gates early behavior you could tell that he wouldn't ever pass such an interview as not being a team player, being arrogant, being a quitter and everything else.

LordQarlyn

It really depends on one's role in IT. Lots of positions require dealing with very diverse customer sets, other IT roles require leadership and managing people more so than systems. Behavioral questions can identify how a candidate would handle irate or angry customers, how to deal with seemingly no win situations under tight deadlines, and other people related skills that technical questions don't cover.